*Midnight*
"Boss, the snow is really coming down now."
"I can see that McGee. What's your point?" Gibbs asked his agent.
"Reports are saying the roads may close down soon."
Gibbs took his NCIS baseball cap off and rubbed the top of his head before putting it back on. Ducky already had the body back at autopsy, Tony and Ziva were questioning the deceased's roommates and he and McGee were standing inside the ice cold garage where the victim's body had been found. They still had to go back to the office to question the suspect. At the rate the snow was falling Gibbs new he was going to be stuck at the office and Maggie was going to be snowed in at home with his father and Senior.
"We're done here. Let's head back." Gibbs handed McGee the keys.
"You want me to drive?"
"That's why I gave you the keys McGee."
Once inside the truck, Gibbs cranked the heat to take the chill out of the cab and flipped open his cell phone. It was now 12:30 a.m., he hated to call Maggie that late, but he wanted to make sure everything was okay.
"Hello." Maggie's voice came across the line.
"You still up?"
"I made a fire earlier and I'm waiting for it to die down before heading upstairs."
"Everything okay?"
"Do you mean have I killed anyone yet or tossed anyone's butt out in the storm? The answer is no. I will admit that I snuck out to the garage once and tossed back some of your bourbon."
"There's some in the cabinet in the kitchen." Gibbs reminded her. "You didn't need to go out in the storm."
"I needed to bring the snow blower out from there so I figured a little liquid courage wouldn't hurt. How's it where you are."
"Well if McGee could drive a little slower than…."Gibbs leaned over to read the speedometer "20 miles an hour we may not get stranded."
"Being cautious Boss."
"Be cautious a little faster." Gibbs told him. "I don't think I'll be home before morning."
"Just be safe on the roads. Call me later when you can. I love you."
"Me too." Gibbs ended the call. Maggie knew he'd never say I love you back to her when he was at work and others were around. It didn't bother her. She knew he loved her. He may not use his words to say it but he told her in many other ways.
"Was that Gibbs?"
Maggie looked up to see Senior standing in the doorway.
"Yeah, doesn't look like he'll make it home tonight." Maggie shifted her body to sit up on the couch and pulled the afghan over her lap. "Why are you up? Do you need anything?"
Senior looked out the window and shuddered. "Coming down faster now. Looks like it's almost a foot."
"We'll be okay. When it slows down enough I'll go out and use the snow blower."
"You can use that?" Senior looked over at his daughter.
"Yeah, I can. It snows in Boston too, worse than this. James used to do it but after he died, I took over a lot of the things I took for granted." Maggie explained.
"Where did you get this ornament?" Senior was looking at the tree and the handmade ornament that one of her students had made for her. It was a Popsicle snowflake with Mrs. Gibbs written in a child's printing.
"One of my students made it for me." Maggie explained. "There should be three or four more."
"All the years that you've been teaching, I thought you'd have more like these." Senior commented.
"I did…once." Maggie fiddled with the edge of the afghan.
"Once?" Senior asked as he sat down on the other end of the couch.
Maggie wasn't completely comfortable being this close to Senior. She fought the urge to just get up and go to bed; but she stayed put.
"The Christmas after James died, I was …" Maggie searched for the right word. "I was depressed. I didn't want to do the whole Christmas thing, but I had to for Jamie. When it was all over, I just threw everything out without realizing what I was doing. And then the next Christmas I could only find a handful of ornaments."
"You threw them all out? You must have been heart broken. All those years of memories."
Maggie nodded. "And some that were just plain ugly, but I kept them anyways." Maggie smiled.
"Like Nana DiNozzo's ornaments?" Senior grinned. When he left Maggie and her mother, he left most of the things his mother had given them; including Christmas ornaments brought over from 'the old country'.
"God I always hated those cherubs." Maggie laughed. "Those were the scariest things I'd ever seen. It took me years to go near the tree at Christmas time."
"They were pretty evil looking." Senior agreed.
Maggie bit her lip as a wave of nostalgia washed over her. For years when she was little, she longed for some time like this; just her and her father talking.
"Senior." Maggie started. "Why did you just walk away from us? I can understand you and Mom not loving each other and growing apart. Mom found her soul mate in Seamus, but you just…you just forgot about me."
Maggie felt the tears stinging the back of her eyes. Maybe Gibbs was right, maybe Senior was here for a reason but if that was true, then she'd never see him again and she wanted answers.
"Maggie, I never forgot about you. Hold on one second."
Senior got up and walked to the hall closet and took his wallet out of his coat pocket. He brought it back into the living room and sat on the couch. He opened his wallet and reached into a hidden fold in the back to pull out some dog eared pictures and showed them to her.
"This is your first communion." The picture was taken on the altar of St. Mary's in Boston. Maggie was 7 years old, dressed in her white communion dress, frilly socks, white leather shoes and her veil. She remembered that her mother had pin curled her hair for the occasion.
"Where did you get this?" Maggie asked quietly.
"Turn it over."
"Tony – Our girl looks beautiful – Love Liz."
"Mom sent this to you?"
"And this one."
The next one was Maggie's high school yearbook photo.
"God, look at my hair! Talk about 80's hair." Maggie laughed.
"I think you look beautiful, but this is my favorite."
The third picture was of her and Tony on her wedding day. Maggie in her wedding gown and Tony in his tux; they looked so young.
"Your step-father sent me that one."
"I don't understand." Maggie handed the pictures back to him. "Mom never told me she sent you pictures. You wouldn't even see me when I came to visit Tony when he was little.
"I don't have a good excuse for my behavior. I was wrong. Plain and simple. The money went to my head. There was never enough for me. Then I'd take a chance and I'd lose some and panic and need to make more. Then Tony's mom died and I was lost. I couldn't see you without her there. She loved you in case you didn't know."
"I knew." Maggie said softly.
"She loved having a daughter. We'd go out to parties and when people asked about Tony she'd go on about you too. She would get mad if anyone ever commented on how you were really a red headed step child."
Maggie made a face at her father.
"One time she threw a glass of wine in a woman's face when the woman made that comment. She told her that her red headed step child was the best thing that ever happened to her."
"But your red headed child….you never talked about me did you?"
"Not often, not to people who weren't family."
The room got quiet. Maggie knew the truths, she'd always guessed them but to hear him say it out loud, it was a fresh pain all over again.
Christmas Eve Day
Tony stood at the windows near his desk watching the snow fall. Roads had been closed around noon earlier in the day. It was Christmas Eve and he was going to spend yet another one here at NCIS offices. He looked forward to watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' as they always did in MTAC, but that was a choice, but that was a choice, now it felt like they were trapped.
He flipped open his cell phone and thought again about calling Maggie, and then closed it. She must be ready to kill him, but Senior being there wasn't his fault.
"She knows that you aren't to blame for Senior."
Tony jumped when Gibbs spoke.
"Really need to teach me how you do that. Sneaking up on people." Tony told Gibbs. "How'd you know I was thinking about Senior?"
"You've been looking at your phone all morning and you haven't called to check in."
"Maggie tell you that?"
"Nope." Gibbs took a sip of coffee. The heavy snow was keeping him from his usual coffee place and the stuff in the vending machine wasn't the same. "I haven't called yet."
Tony looked at Gibbs amazed.
"You haven't talked to your wife? We've been gone for over 12 hours."
Gibbs nodded. "I know how long we've been on the case. Maggie is used to me being stuck here."
"But still, it's a blizzard out there, the roads are closed and she's with your dad and my…our dad….Did you ever see any Stephen King movies? Snow, isolation, family dysfunction…..there's going to be blood."
Gibbs smirked at Tony and turned around to walk to his desk.
"Call your sister Tony; I'll talk to her after."
Tony flipped open his phone and tried Maggie's cell.
"No answer Boss."
Gibbs gave him an annoyed look. "Try the land line."
"Yeah, that was next." Tony sat at his desk and picked up the phone and paused. "What's the land line Boss? I always call her on her cell."
"Never mind." Gibbs picked up his desk phone and dialed his home.
"Hullo."
"Hey Dad, how's things going there?"
Jackson put down the baking sheet he had been putting in the oven.
"Things are fine here. Tony and I are baking cookies."
Gibbs mouth dropped open as he listened to his father.
"And Maggie's outside using the snow blower. Wife of yours is crazy. I keep telling her to wait."
"If you wait too long then you can't use it at all. The snow will be too high."
"That's what she said. She went out earlier in the morning to do the walks and the driveway so you'll have someplace to park when you get home. Speaking of that, any idea when that'll be?"
"Nope. Major roads are being worked on right now. Looks like we may be spending Christmas Eve here."
"Damn son, Maggie's going to be disappointed."
"Not you Dad?" Gibbs laughed.
"Hell no, I get the company of a pretty woman who appreciates my holiday spirit."
"Maggie is that Dad." Gibbs agreed. "How are things between her and her father?"
"First time you've referred to him as that." Jackson told his son.
Gibbs didn't respond.
"Things are pretty good here. Tony and I have been making cookies and he has one hell of an egg nog recipe."
"Family secret is the whiskey." Senior said as he put the cooled off snicker doodles on a tray.
Maggie came in the back door after finishing the latest round of snow removal.
"Here she is now son."
Jackson handed Maggie the cordless phone. "Give me your jacket before you freeze." He told her.
"You enjoying yourself?" Gibbs asked his wife.
"Snow blowing, love it. It's quiet and peaceful out there."
"Not inside huh?"
"It's actually not too bad. My kitchen is filled with the smell of fresh baked cookies, there's Christmas music playing and spiked egg nog in the fridge."
"And how are you?"
Maggie had taken the phone upstairs to the bedroom for some privacy.
"I talked to Senior for a little last night after you called."
"And?" Gibbs wanted to know if he was right.
"And he genuinely wanted to spend Christmas with his family. It's a bitter pill to swallow, our conversation didn't end in hugs and kisses and fatherly love. He admitted that he avoided me when I was young because he didn't want to remember how things used to be. And that hurt."
Gibbs was angry. He could hear the hurt in his wife's voice. "I'm going to come home."
"Leroy Jethro Gibbs you are not going to try and come home. The roads suck, it's still snowing and I'd rather you are safe and warm at work then stuck in a snow bank, your car wrapped around a tree."
Gibbs knew when Maggie used his whole name she meant business.
"Besides, it's getting late; I'm going to go start dinner when the cookie shop finishes up. It was just going to be me and your Dad tonight while you did your thing with the team..."
Gibbs turned around in his chair to shield his conversation some now that Ziva and McGee had come back from raiding the various vending machines for food.
"Maggie, I don't want you to wake up Christmas morning alone."
"Honey, I'm not alone. Hopefully by tomorrow morning the roads will be open and you can get everyone here for dinner."
Gibbs was quiet.
"Gibbs, I mean it. Don't try to drive home tonight."
"No promises." Gibbs told her.
"Fine. But if you get in an accident coming home I will kill you." Maggie warned. "And I'll tell Ducky to give you lousy autopsy stitches."
Gibbs smiled into the phone. "Merry Christmas Maggie. I love you."
McGee, Ziva and Tony all heard Gibbs say that. Their shocked faces looked at each other as Gibbs hung the phone up. Gibbs ignored them as he opened his bottom desk drawer and looked at Maggie's Christmas present. They had said no big gifts this year. Neither of them really needed or wanted anything, they had all they needed, but Gibbs had started his gift not long after they had gotten married. To keep Maggie from snooping he'd leave it locked in his truck when he wasn't working on it and bring it to work when he was there.
"Ziva David." Ziva answered her phone when it rang. "Shalom to you too Maggie, what can I help you with?"
Gibbs peeked around his computer and looked over at Ziva. Why was Maggie calling Ziva.
"Yes, I completely understand, it is too dangerous…I will…..I will make sure that he does not…You did? Okay, I will check. Merry Christmas."
Ziva looked over at Gibbs who was waiting.
"Well? Do I have to guess?" Gibbs asked his agent.
"Maggie has given me express orders to make sure you do not attempt to drive home until the roads are clear."
Gibbs snickered and looked back at the paperwork on his desk.
"I have permission to do whatever it takes to stop you."
"I'd pay money to see that. Gibbs vs. David. Who would win?" Tony pondered out loud.
"My money would be on Ziva." McGee said from his desk causing Gibbs to give him a look of disbelief. "Come on Boss, you'd never hit Ziva."
"If it meant stopping me from getting home to spend Christmas with my wife I might." Gibbs commented.
Ziva put her hands on Gibbs' desk and leaned forward. "And your wife would kill me if anything happened to you. I like your wife."
"What did Maggie want you to check on?" Gibbs asked Ziva.
"It appears that Maggie cooked up a surprise with Abby and we are to go down to Abby's lab."
Gibbs stood up and told the team to follow him to the elevator.
"They're here." Abby said to Maggie who had called after she hung up with Ziva. "I'll make sure too. Merry Christmas."
"What's the surprise Abs?" Gibbs started to ask and then he saw the food on the table Abby had set up in her office.
"Maggie knew you'd be here for Christmas Eve so she wanted you all to have something good to eat." Maggie handed everyone a paper plate and some plastic silverware.
"Where did you keep this all?" McGee asked as he saw the trays of lasagna, eggplant parmesan, meatballs and sauce along with rolls and salad.
"I kept it in a freezer in the morgue." Ducky said as he came in with a cart of waters and soda and ice.
"Alone right?" Tony wanted to know.
Gibbs slapped Tony on the back of the head.
"And I heated it up in here."
"When did she plan all this?" McGee asked Gibbs.
"Damned if I know." He answered as he piled lasagna on his plate.
"She and I cooked it up." Ducky admitted. "We were talking about Christmas Day and I told her she should come to the annual film showing in MTAC, but she declined. Something about it not being a favorite movie and that some traditions should be kept."
"How does anyone not like 'It's a Wonderful Life'? Even I like it and I don't celebrate Christmas." Ziva commented.
"It's DiNozzo thing." Tony muttered. "Movie reminds her too much of my Dad and she never watches it."
Gibbs took his plate and walked out into Abby's outer lab. The only light in the room came from the strings of lights Abby had hung up. He looked up at the windows and wished he could be home with Maggie right now. He wanted to thank her for thinking of his team and setting all this up with Ducky.
"Don't make me use my handcuffs." Abby said as she came to stand next to him.
"You too Abs?"
"Maggie doesn't want to lose you because you have to be stubborn and do things your way." Abby threaded her arm though Gibbs' and rested her head on his shoulder. "Maggie really loves you."
Gibbs nodded his head. "I know Abs."
"And you don't have to say it, but I know you really love her too. I can tell. I've never seen you look this content."
Gibbs kissed Abby on the top of her head.
"But if you try to leave, I will handcuff you to Mass Spec."
"I'm not the biggest fan of this movie." Maggie protested as Jackson pushed her into the living room.
"Everyone loves 'It's a Wonderful Life'." Jackson steered Maggie to the couch and then sat beside her with Senior on the other side of Maggie.
"Why do you keep your television in that cabinet thingy?" Jackson pointed over to the armoire on the wall by the fire place.
"Gibbs and I don't watch much television. The only reason we have this one is because Tony bought it for us as a wedding gift."
"So why not hang it up on the all or over the fireplace. Isn't that where most people put flat screened televisions?" Senior commented.
"Most people, yes. Gibbs and I found the armoire at a junk yard and I refinished it. So now the TV is in the living room but I don't have to see it all the time." Maggie leaned forward and picked up her cup of egg-nog and took a sip.
"Jeez, a little heavy handed with the whiskey Senior?"
"Family recipe." He told her and picked up the remote. "How do you use this thing?"
Maggie was trapped. She did not want to watch this movie at all. Gibbs had asked Maggie to come to NCIS to watch it with the rest of them, but she declined. She remembered watching the movie when she was younger with Senior and when Tony got older, he'd go on about watching it with him and how wonderful it was and how great Senior was that particular Christmas. Maggie knew Tony was just trying to convince himself that Senior was a good guy. He still tried to convince himself of that. But Maggie resented Seniors absence all those years and this movie was a big reminder of it.
Gibbs and the team watched the movie in MTAC; but Gibbs' mind wasn't in Bedford Falls and he wasn't following George Bailey's journey to see what would happen if he hadn't been born. From the moment George told Mary that he'd lasso the moon and pull it down to give to her, his thoughts had been on Maggie. He knew he'd do the same thing for Maggie. How he'd been blessed to be able to feel this way again was beyond his imagination. He'd done so much damage to his own life and several women along the way; he should have been cursed to stay alone the rest of his life alone. But he wasn't and right now he wanted to go home, carry Maggie up to their bedroom, lock them in and show her how much she meant to him.
The movie ended finally and Maggie breathed a sigh of relief. She picked up the empty glasses and took them into the kitchen and put them in the sink. Outside the kitchen window, the snow had finally stopped. Neighbors were out again with snow blowers making room for Santa's visit.
"News man just said the roads should be open by morning." Senior's voice made Maggie jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"You didn't. My mind was just somewhere else." Maggie whistled for the dog and let Freckles out into the back yard.
"You know;" Senior began to say "Junior and I loved watching that movie at Christmas time."
"Dad, you know what? I hate that movie. When it would come on at Christmas all I could think of is that you couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone and call me. Not once after Tony's mom died did you even try. I know all my gifts came from her; you probably didn't even know she did that did you? But you knew that she willed me the pearls and wanted them back. I wasn't family I believe was what you said. "
Senior knew Maggie was angry; he didn't even try to stop Maggie. He doubted that she even knew what she'd said.
"That movie reminds me that in your eyes, I was never born. Tony was your first born from your new life. Me? I was the child from the life you wanted to forget about. The life that embarrassed you. Out of site out of mind. Mom and Dad tried to help me understand, but how do you tell a little girl that her birth father, he didn't send a birthday gift. He wasn't there for her graduation. You were invited to my wedding, granted you weren't going to walk me down the aisle, but no, what do you do? I get card and a check from wife number who knows what and not signed but a stamped signature. "
Maggie was pacing back and forth across the kitchen. Jackson stayed in the living room ready to step in if he was needed. He knew Maggie had a few egg nogs and the whiskey had loosened her tongue up.
"How about when Jamie was born. I know that Tony bought the gift that was supposed to be from you, he tried to forge your signature, but I never told him that I knew. And the best of the best. James' funeral. You sent flowers signed Mr. and Mrs. DiNozzo – sorry for your loss. Nice sentiment."
Jackson cringed, thought that topped the date bringing.
"You never even called when Mom died. Not a card, not flowers not anything. And now, you show up to get to know your grandson that you never had time for before."
Tears were streaming down Maggie's face. Senior wanted to go to her and hug her and tell her the truth, his truth, not some story, but why he really stayed away from her and to try and make up for all the mistakes.
"I'm going to bed. Merry Christmas." Maggie barked at Senior and stomped up the stairs. Jackson came into the kitchen and took out two glasses from the cabinet and carried the whiskey to the table. He splashed some liquid in each glass and pushed one towards Senior.
"That was the first time she's ever called me Dad."
Tony, McGee and Ziva made make shift beds behind their desks. Abby was in her lab sleeping and Ducky had found someplace to camp out for the night. Gibbs sat at his desk, watching the news updates on mute on the television. At three a.m. the roads had been declared open.
"Hey, guys…" Gibbs called to his team members quietly. When they didn't respond, he went and shook them each gently to wake them up.
"Roads are open, time to go home."